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Montpellier: students pushed and gassed outside the Jean-Monnet lycée during a blockade (police: no violence)

On 29 September, outside Jean-Monnet, witnesses and an OLM observer report a charge and gas sprayed in faces; the Hérault national police deny any violence.

Date: 29 September 2026
Place: Lycée Jean-Monnet, Montpellier (34)
Context: School blockade
Legal follow-up: Unknown

The acts of violence (2)

Law enforcement → peopleDisputedMinor injury
Around 7:30 a.m., national police teams who had arrived to clear the entrances reportedly charged the group of students gathered in front of the entrance and pushed several of them around, some shoved to the ground or held back by their backpacks (witness quoted by France 3; witness quoted by ToutMontpellier; observer of the Observatoire des libertés de Montpellier quoted by Le Poing: “pushed students around” (translated)). The Hérault departmental directorate of the national police denies any violence and says it intervened to prevent the entrances from being blocked. Severity: that of the act described by the witnesses (students pushed around, some shoved to the ground), no injury being described in the sources read.
Other · High-school students
Law enforcement → peopleDisputedMinor injury
Around 8 a.m., a unit of the departmental intervention company (about ten officers) reportedly used a hand-held gas spray, “very close to faces and without warning” (translated), to dislodge students sitting on the pedestrian crossing in front of the school (witness quoted by France 3; OLM observer quoted by Le Poing, which speaks of a hand-held gas spray). A photo published by Le Poing shows a police officer holding an aerosol pointed at a group of young people. The national police deny any violence. Severity: that of the act described by the witnesses (hand-held gas spray used very close to the faces), no injury being described in the sources read.
Gas / baton strikes · High-school students

Breaches of rules

No RIO (identification number) Disputed
A witness quoted by France 3 states that officers were in plain clothes and that some uniformed officers had concealed their RIO number; the national police reply that, after checking, the officers who intervened were wearing their RIO.

Established: recognised by a magistrate, a video authenticated by a news outlet, or a medical report. Alleged: reported, neither confirmed nor denied. Disputed: reported, then denied by an authority.

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Image of the scene: Montpellier: students pushed and gassed outside the Jean-Monnet lycée during a blockade (police: no violence)

On Tuesday 29 September 2026, students of the Jean-Monnet lycée in Montpellier blockade the two entrances of their school at around 6:30 a.m., with a few bins as a barrier (France 3). A member of the Observatoire des libertés de Montpellier (OLM, a group of observers linked to the Ligue des droits de l’Homme), present on the spot, places the start of the blockade at around 7:30 a.m. (Le Poing). Around 7:45 a.m., a delegation of students is received by the school management, and the blockade continues (France 3; Le Poing).

Around 7:30 a.m., national police teams arrive “to put an end to the disturbances and clear the entrances”, according to France 3 (translated). A witness there describes police officers getting out of their vehicles and rushing at the young people without warning, pushing several of them around, some shoved to the ground or held back by their bags. The OLM observer also recounts that CDI teams (departmental intervention company) arrived, pushed students around and used a hand-held gas spray on students. France 3 places at around 8 a.m. the arrival of about ten CDI officers, who reportedly dislodged with force and sprays of gas the students sitting on the pedestrian crossing, “very close to faces and without warning” (translated). Around 8:30 a.m., according to France 3, the entrances are clear and the municipal police take over.

The Hérault departmental directorate of the national police, quoted by France 3 and ToutMontpellier, denies any violence: its services reportedly intervened to prevent blockades using street furniture, after the fire that had destroyed the caretaker’s lodge at the Mermoz lycée. It also states that the officers were wearing their RIO. None of the sources read describes an injury at Jean-Monnet.

France 3 and ToutMontpellier also mention a video relayed by a member of parliament for Hérault, which reportedly shows a young person dragged along the ground by a police officer holding him by his backpack; this video has not been viewed here and the act is not retained as a fact.

Follow-up

No complaint or investigation is reported in the sources read as of 2026-10-05.

Sources

Law enforcementProtestersBothPeopleProperty only

Entry updated on 19 October 2026.